Category: Birth Control

From the start of the Trump Presidency, many Beltway wise men, and more than a few of Donald Trump’s own advisers said, Don’t pay attention to the tweets; forget the overheated language and the alarming one-liners coming out of Trump’s constant campaign-style rallies. Pay attention to the policy. They repeated this even after Trump fired his White House chief of staff and Secretary of State on Twitter, and started making policy announcements to his followers that his advisers didn’t know about. They are still, essentially, telling us to disregard what the President says.

As we observe Women’s Equality Day on Aug. 26, which commemorates the day on which the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote, was certified in 1920, it’s important to take the opportunity to take stock. How far has the United States come in terms of women’s rights — and how is it stalling, or going backwards? The news in many quarters seems positive. More Democrat women are running for office in the 2018 midterm elections than ever before, and the #MeToo movement continues to drive public conversation. But there are some fundamental rights for American women remain at risk.

Welcome to Bustle’s Abortion AMA column, where reproductive rights advocate and Romper editor Danielle Campoamor will speak to experts and medical professionals to answer people’s questions about abortion in a way that is educational, unvarnished, and judgement free. Ask us anything.

The annual U.N. Commission on the Status of Women – the international body’s “most important meeting on women’s empowerment,” according to a U.S. official – recently wrapped up a two-week session. BuzzFeed’s report on the event suggests the delegation from the Trump administration wasn’t exactly well received.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant passed into law an abortion ban – at 15 weeks – which is now the strictest limit in the nation that fails to outline provisions that would exempt rape or incest victims, drawing outrage across the state, according to BuzzFeed.

After a year of Trump administration attacks on reproductive health services, the health and rights of Americans have already suffered measurably. The recent 50-State Report Card on Reproductive Health and Rights issued by my organization, the Population Institute, gave 18 states a failing grade for 2017, and lowered the U.S. grade to a D-. It also cautioned things could take a turn for the worse in 2018.